A clever friend of mine told me that it is easier to teach a cat to swim than to work with municipalities on IoT projects. The issue is not that two world views collide with unpredictable consequences, it is that neither party can conceptualize how the other thinks.
IoT companies that succeed with municipalities aren’t just technically brilliant—they’re strategically brilliant. The key is shifting from a “sell the tech” mindset to a “solve a municipal problem with minimal friction” approach. Municipalities that work well with IoT vendors prioritize functionalities effectively and know their use case.
A “tick box” tender process often lends validity to the principle of “cheapness,” over long term benefit. Key questions are lost in traffic; Who maintains it? Does it integrate with their current IT stack? What is the 5 year cost? What happens when things break? Cheap cannot be the correct criteria for verifying the worth of an IoT procurement? Many of our customers come to us after spending significant time and money on “money pit” failures, that never net their needs.
On the other side (municipality), by the time an RFP (Request for Proposal) is public, the decision is half-baked, often shaped by outdated vendor recommendations (election flip flops) or consultants with their own agenda. If you lead with protocol specs, edge computing benefits, and LPWAN deep dives, people’s eyes glaze over faster than an Arctic winter.
So, what is the plan?
- Open Standards Advocacy – Cities look to compatibility, interoperability, and non-proprietary protocols (LoRaWAN, Zigbee, Matter, etc.).
- Outcome-Based Contracts – Instead of picking the cheapest vendor, contracts focus on measurable success metrics like uptime, security compliance, and long-term cost-effectiveness.
- Tech-Literate Procurement Teams – Instead of treating IoT like asphalt, municipalities develop in-house technical expertise or hire independent tech auditors who aren’t vendor-tied.
- Modular & Upgradeable Systems – City planners design infrastructure with adaptability in mind rather than betting the farm on one ecosystem.
- Pilot Projects & PPP (Public-Private Partnerships) – Trial runs, pilot studies, proof of concept, feasibility; all valuable assets before plunging into full scale deployment.
Now the real question: How does an IoT company balance standardization (so products scale across multiple cities) while still adapting to the unique challenges of each municipality? No two cities have the same procurement rules, IT infrastructure, or political climate.
